Illegal adoptees receive once-off €3k payment

Illegal adoptees have begun receiving a once-off payment of €3,000 from the Department of Children, to help cover the costs of DNA tests and any legal bills.

The money is being paid out following a recommendation last year by the former government Special Rapporteur on Child Protection on foot of an independent review into illegal registrations.

Professor Conor O’Mahony had called for a state inquiry into the issues raised and said the Government should formally apologise to those affected.

It is estimated that as many as 15,000 people were illegally registered as the birth child of their adoptive parents after the adoption act was introduced in 1952.

That law was meant to protect illegal trafficking of children. However, it has since emerged private unlawful adoption arrangements continued until at least the 1970s.

The €3,000 payment is being issued by the Child and Family Agency Tusla on behalf of the State.

Margaret Norton from Co Longford, who lifted the lid on the actions of the late Dr Irene Creedon from Monaghan, who arranged her illegal adoption in 1972, told the Irish Examiner she received her €3,000 payment last week.

“It’ll never make up for what was done to me. I did my own research to find my biological family and that alone cost me 12 years of my life,” she said,

Breakthrough

The breakthrough for Margaret came in 2018 after she took an online DNA test on the Ancestry website which matched her to a close relative.

She has since been reunited with her parents who married and had two other children.

She said: “I never would have known I was even adopted only for my adoptive parents told me. When I asked for my adoption cert, I realised it was a birth cert, which was not the correct document”.

Margaret, who is now using her family tracing experience to help others, said: “DNA is the first port of call. Even if you don’t have a biological match now, you could still have one in a few years. We have two families reunited so far and a lot of it has stemmed from the DNA results. By looking for my own family we have gained a lot of experience of who to talk to and where to look and we have been able to help others”.

In a statement, the Child and Family Agency said: “The Government approved a single once-off payment of €3,000 to each individual whose illegal birth registration has been confirmed by Tusla.

"Accordingly, the scheme provides, on an ex-gratia basis, a single once-off payment of €3,000 to affected individuals, as set out, and requested Tusla to administer the payment. 

"In the context of this payment, it is important to note that a person affected by illegal birth registration does not need to obtain a declaration of parentage as new measures introduced by the Birth Information and Tracing Act 2022 provide a mechanism for formal recognition of the lived identity of a person affected by illegal birth registration, including recognition of the persons who raised them, where this is the person’s choice. This mechanism is available free of charge via the General Registration Office.

“The payment is provided on an ex-gratia basis and is intended as a contribution to relevant expenses incurred”.

The Department of Children said: “In relation to the ex-gratia scheme for illegal birth registrations, the Department can confirm that the administration of payments by Tusla is underway”.